This is one of the biggest surprises the Sonic franchise has thrown at me. A Sonic murder mystery visual novel? For free? In this economy?
If you're looking for a head-scratcher like Danganronpa or Ace Attorney you won't find it here, which is fine, this game isn't trying to be one. The strength of this game lies on having these characters interact in a more down-to-earth setting, with the player character serving as a perfect contrast to this crazy cast by being "ordinary" in comparisons, while still being a worthwhile character that I personally became fond towards.
There's some small gameplay segments during interrogations with a more classic Sonic gameplay, they happen every time the player character needs to collect their thoughts to prepare an argument. They are a good change of pace even if they interrupt the flow a bit, their implementation reminded me a bit of some mechanics you'd see in the Ace Attorney games, where they abstract a stressful situation into a minigame.
Regarding the graphics and the music, they are amazing. The comic book art style perfectly fits the tone of the story, and there's something about the color palette of these drawings that is just perfect. The music is really jazzy and fits every situation, you can feel that Ace Attorney (yes, again) inspiration coming through in the interrogation music, and they nailed it.
This game is awesome, if you either like visual novels or would love to see the Sonic cast in a different and fun setting you HAVE to play this.
If you're looking for a head-scratcher like Danganronpa or Ace Attorney you won't find it here, which is fine, this game isn't trying to be one. The strength of this game lies on having these characters interact in a more down-to-earth setting, with the player character serving as a perfect contrast to this crazy cast by being "ordinary" in comparisons, while still being a worthwhile character that I personally became fond towards.
There's some small gameplay segments during interrogations with a more classic Sonic gameplay, they happen every time the player character needs to collect their thoughts to prepare an argument. They are a good change of pace even if they interrupt the flow a bit, their implementation reminded me a bit of some mechanics you'd see in the Ace Attorney games, where they abstract a stressful situation into a minigame.
Regarding the graphics and the music, they are amazing. The comic book art style perfectly fits the tone of the story, and there's something about the color palette of these drawings that is just perfect. The music is really jazzy and fits every situation, you can feel that Ace Attorney (yes, again) inspiration coming through in the interrogation music, and they nailed it.
This game is awesome, if you either like visual novels or would love to see the Sonic cast in a different and fun setting you HAVE to play this.